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Notes on Louisiana-French

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 April 2026

George S. Lane
George S. Lane*
Affiliation:
Catholic University of America
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Extract

There are three distinct types of French spoken in Southern Louisiana. The first, that with which this paper deals primarily, I have chosen to call Standard Louisiana-French. The term may or may not be appropriate, but it is at least convenient. The correct name would be Creole-French, but unfortunately that name has been applied too often to the Negro-French dialects of Louisiana, the French Antilles, and the Mascarenes for its use to be unambiguous, especially since not all are familiar with the application of the name ‘Creole’ in Louisiana only to the white descendants of European (French, Spanish) settlers. Standard (Louisiana-)French is still spoken by many of the more cultivated whites—particularly by the urban population—of Southern Louisiana, and more especially of what is known as the ‘Southwest Louisiana Parishes’.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Language , Volume 10 , Issue 4-Part1 , December 1934 , pp. 323 - 333
Copyright
Copyright © 1934 Linguistic Society of America

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References

1 Cf. W. A. Read, Louisiana-French (La. State University Publications, No. 5) xxii.

2 Ibid., xxiif.

3 Cf. Caulfield, The French Literature of Louisiana 52f.

4 The ‘Acadians of Louisiana and their Dialect’, PMLA 6. 77 (1891).

5 Cf. Read, op. cit. xxxi.

6 Some generalities are to be found in the article by Alcée Fortier, ‘The Acadians of Louisiana and their Dialect’, PMLA. 6. 64-94; Read, op. cit. xxff. Fortier's remarks on the pronunciation can not be taken as general; for example oi [wa] > Acad, [we] would not be heard near St. Martinville though common elsewhere. Read makes the mistake here, as elsewhere in his book, of not distinguishing between Standard Louisiana-French and Acadian.

7 In a succeeding article I am giving a historical analysis and descriptive grammar of this dialect. For the time being reference may be made to Alcée Fortier ‘The French Language in Louisiana and the Negro-French dialect’, PMLA. 1. 101-11 (1884-85).

8 St. Martinville is of course the shrine of the Evangeline legend. The ‘Evangeline Oak’ stands on the Bayou Teche to the rear of St. Martin's Church, one of the most historic churches in Louisiana. The Evangeline story would have it that the Acadian heroine first landed under its spreading branches. The legendary grave of Evangeline is in the churchyard.

9 Cf. Fortier, ‘The French Language in Louisiana’, PMLA 1. 98 (1884-85).

10 Ibid. 99f.

11 S.-A. Lortie, L'Origine des Canadiens-Français (Paris 1903), 11f.; Read, op. cit., xviiif.

12 The opposite change is to be noticed elsewhere in La., e.g. in St. John the Baptist Parish: robe [ro:b], école [eko:l], etc.

13 Louisiana-French 1-75. Other elements are in particular the terms of Indian origin (76-100), and the words borrowed from English (113-6), African languages (116-28), Spanish (128-50). The Italian element is quite insignificant (150f.), and the German is practically confined to proper names (110-3).

14 Ibid. 113-6.

15 Cf. Moisy, Diet, de pat. norm. 41; Corblet, Gloss, du pat. picard 277.

16 Cf. Read, op. cit. 46.

17 Cf. Edélstand et Duméril, Dictionnaire du patois normand 203, s.v. ‘à Valognes, c'est Verrou; à Bayeux, un Morceau de bois qui sert à soutenir ou attacher différentes choses . . .‘.